The weather has gone through hurricane force winds, heavy rain, and finally beautiful sunshine, so it makes it hard to believe that it has only been two weeks since the start of the internship. As mentioned before, these past two weeks have been a whirlwind of practical and theoretical training, company introductions, and eating (lots of eating). Tomorrow I leave for Germany on what will be my first international business trip. I am pretty excited for it. While there for the next three days, I will be introduced to the German office and meet the rest of the people that I will be working for this summer.
The trip should be nice and will give me an opportunity to understand what the Company's international operations look like. It is important for me to understand as much of the company as I can so that way, if I get an offer, I will be well prepared and informed on any decisions I have to make.
Currently on my mind I have some of the pros and cons: PROS: I think the Company is in a very interesting market that will continue to grow in the future. They Company has also done an excellent job with staffing. The CEO attends every interview and only hires those who believes has strong character (in addition to intelligence). The Company is young and flexible and is able to quickly adapt to any changes in the market place. Further, it seems that they treat their employees well! There are quite a few benefits that come with working here, and the Company truly believes that its employees are the number one assets. CONS: there are not many cons but one is that the busiest time of year is the summer, which means vacationing in summer may be difficult. Secondly, it is a family business. This means that the family takes many of the high positions in the Company which may limit potential to grow and may cause some politically interesting work scenarios.
Anyway, enjoying my time here now and can't wait to experience my first international b trip!
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Sunday, June 12, 2011
one is done.
The first week has come and gone, and now it is time to look back a bit and reflect back on my first week re-gainfully employed. The first week on the job was basically the theoretical training portion of the internship. I learned a lot about the Company's strategy, products, and philosophy. I mentioned in my first post that I was impressed with their strategy and philosophy, but I would like to reiterate it now. I really enjoyed their outlook on the business that they run and the industry they operate in.
The theory was required knowledge necessary to perform any market research, but at the same time, I found it fascinating and I could picture myself staying excited about the products (or really, the manner in which they produce and market) for a long time to come. Along with the theory we got to meet several area managers for the Company as well as several other functional positions within the Company. I think everyone was really smart and they all seemed to get a long quite well. I enjoyed talking to everyone and cannot wait to further some of these discussions in the future.
One of the things I currently like is that I am able to speak Italian for about 40% of the day. I think as time goes on that this number will increase to nearly 100%. There are two interns that don't speak a lick of Italian now, so they would have some problems if we did the training in Italian. The cool thing is though, that when we do hold a conversation in Italian, I find myself understanding nearly 100% of what is being said. This is a huge improvement over 9 months ago.
Anyway, as the training comes to an end and I start to really define my role here at work, I will post more reflectful pieces.
cheers.
The theory was required knowledge necessary to perform any market research, but at the same time, I found it fascinating and I could picture myself staying excited about the products (or really, the manner in which they produce and market) for a long time to come. Along with the theory we got to meet several area managers for the Company as well as several other functional positions within the Company. I think everyone was really smart and they all seemed to get a long quite well. I enjoyed talking to everyone and cannot wait to further some of these discussions in the future.
One of the things I currently like is that I am able to speak Italian for about 40% of the day. I think as time goes on that this number will increase to nearly 100%. There are two interns that don't speak a lick of Italian now, so they would have some problems if we did the training in Italian. The cool thing is though, that when we do hold a conversation in Italian, I find myself understanding nearly 100% of what is being said. This is a huge improvement over 9 months ago.
Anyway, as the training comes to an end and I start to really define my role here at work, I will post more reflectful pieces.
cheers.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Work or Bust? The Internship Begins
Hey All -
I guess I want to keep an updated account of my internship so everyone knows how my life outside Auditing is going. I am going to try and write it as unbiased as possible, so that way when I reread this in a couple months, I will have an honest account of my feelings throughout the internship so in case I get a full-time offer, I can have something to help make a decision on.
So I arrived here in Modena on Friday. I have to admit, I loved the city at first sight, so I was pretty bummed when I discovered that I will be living 15 km outside Modena in a tiny city called Fiorano. It is most well know (read only known for) the Ferrari race track here. The apartment itself is an interesting building. There are four of us interns here, and we were all a little disappointed about it. The apartment is recently restored, however, the furniture dates from, what I would guess, the turn of the century. Currently there is no hot water, but that should come tomorrow. Besides that the town is *charming*.
The internship started today at 10:00am. Today we mostly learned about the company's product offerings. XXXXX is tagged as the XXXXXX. Most of their products are green certified, and they go out of their way to source organic raw materials. When I first accepted the offer, I thought that this would be right up my alley. I will be doing a market development project in Germany this summer, and that too was very interesting to me, but I was worried about working in an Italian company. It is said that Italian companies are inefficient, formal, and way too political. I can tell you that my first impression of work was anything but that!!!!! The culture is very informal, and it appears to be run on German efficiency, well, ok maybe not German, but certainly pretty efficient. I will discover the political situation as time goes on.
Needless to say, that this was a giant relief. The production facilities and warehousing are nearly 100% automated and efficiency ratings are very high. This was most certainly unexpected, but reassuring to me. We got to see the two plants here surrounding Modena and then see their state of the art learning lab. Work has a pretty cool business model and positions themselves as a high quality (high cost) producer of building supplies ranging from paint to pvc to adhesives. I won't go into too much more details about the detail of the Company, but rather on a broad scope they seem like a top notch and high savvy company.
The people there all seem really friendly. This was not a surprise, but merely a bonus. Everyone we spoke to was extremely knowledgeable about the industry, company, and products they offer. I was impressed by the business savvy that every employee has; from the R&D and Quality Control departments, to area managers, to the engineers, all of them were top notch people.
I will cut this a bit short as I am exhausted from my first day, but before I leave, I discovered today that I will be leaving to Germany sometime next week, so that is something to look forward to!
cheers,
I guess I want to keep an updated account of my internship so everyone knows how my life outside Auditing is going. I am going to try and write it as unbiased as possible, so that way when I reread this in a couple months, I will have an honest account of my feelings throughout the internship so in case I get a full-time offer, I can have something to help make a decision on.
So I arrived here in Modena on Friday. I have to admit, I loved the city at first sight, so I was pretty bummed when I discovered that I will be living 15 km outside Modena in a tiny city called Fiorano. It is most well know (read only known for) the Ferrari race track here. The apartment itself is an interesting building. There are four of us interns here, and we were all a little disappointed about it. The apartment is recently restored, however, the furniture dates from, what I would guess, the turn of the century. Currently there is no hot water, but that should come tomorrow. Besides that the town is *charming*.
The internship started today at 10:00am. Today we mostly learned about the company's product offerings. XXXXX is tagged as the XXXXXX. Most of their products are green certified, and they go out of their way to source organic raw materials. When I first accepted the offer, I thought that this would be right up my alley. I will be doing a market development project in Germany this summer, and that too was very interesting to me, but I was worried about working in an Italian company. It is said that Italian companies are inefficient, formal, and way too political. I can tell you that my first impression of work was anything but that!!!!! The culture is very informal, and it appears to be run on German efficiency, well, ok maybe not German, but certainly pretty efficient. I will discover the political situation as time goes on.
Needless to say, that this was a giant relief. The production facilities and warehousing are nearly 100% automated and efficiency ratings are very high. This was most certainly unexpected, but reassuring to me. We got to see the two plants here surrounding Modena and then see their state of the art learning lab. Work has a pretty cool business model and positions themselves as a high quality (high cost) producer of building supplies ranging from paint to pvc to adhesives. I won't go into too much more details about the detail of the Company, but rather on a broad scope they seem like a top notch and high savvy company.
The people there all seem really friendly. This was not a surprise, but merely a bonus. Everyone we spoke to was extremely knowledgeable about the industry, company, and products they offer. I was impressed by the business savvy that every employee has; from the R&D and Quality Control departments, to area managers, to the engineers, all of them were top notch people.
I will cut this a bit short as I am exhausted from my first day, but before I leave, I discovered today that I will be leaving to Germany sometime next week, so that is something to look forward to!
cheers,
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Monday, May 9, 2011
Its been a while...
Hello loyal follower (Melissa),
Well since my last post a lot has happened. I went snowboarding, broke my arm, finished a term, found an internship, did the MBA Ski Cup, got my cast removed, went to Meran, inverviewed with AB Inbev, and today I took another exam. It really is amazing how fast time goes by, it seems just like yesterday I was flying over to Milan to begin a new stage in my life, but as I look back, I am amazed by all the events that have transpired since.
Well, I guess I will restart my blog today with my excitement to finish this term. I look forward to starting my internship in Modena. It will be an exciting time. I will be doing it with a green construction company. It really is perfect for me. One of the gravest dangers facing the environment today is our complacient use of building materials. Something like 35% of all waste comes from buildings, and this is a huge drain on our natural resources. The world's forests are dissappearing, mountains are being destroyed by mountain top mining, water and air are being polluted by the production of construction supplies, and this is unacceptable. I am excited to join a small entrepreneurial family company to combat this problem.
On a similar note, I really reccomend the documentary 180 degrees south. This movie will really get you thinking...
Well since my last post a lot has happened. I went snowboarding, broke my arm, finished a term, found an internship, did the MBA Ski Cup, got my cast removed, went to Meran, inverviewed with AB Inbev, and today I took another exam. It really is amazing how fast time goes by, it seems just like yesterday I was flying over to Milan to begin a new stage in my life, but as I look back, I am amazed by all the events that have transpired since.
Well, I guess I will restart my blog today with my excitement to finish this term. I look forward to starting my internship in Modena. It will be an exciting time. I will be doing it with a green construction company. It really is perfect for me. One of the gravest dangers facing the environment today is our complacient use of building materials. Something like 35% of all waste comes from buildings, and this is a huge drain on our natural resources. The world's forests are dissappearing, mountains are being destroyed by mountain top mining, water and air are being polluted by the production of construction supplies, and this is unacceptable. I am excited to join a small entrepreneurial family company to combat this problem.
On a similar note, I really reccomend the documentary 180 degrees south. This movie will really get you thinking...
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Dubai or Bust
So I am literally minutes away from leaving Milan to go to Dubai to compete in the 2011 edition of the Hult Global Business Challenge. It is an amazing contest that invites the best MBA programs from around the world to solve the world's problems. This year the contest is partnering with Bill Clinton and Water.org to bring us the challenge of solving the water problem. There are over a billion people on the earth without access to clean, fresh, and safe drinking water. This must be changed, and it is up to us to do so.
If you would like to help us, e-mail me at jlpeverini@gmail.com, the Competition begins Saturday (Dubai time) and we are allowed to use any and all available outside resources. Read more about the challenge here http://hultglobalcasechallenge.com/challenge2011.html
or read more about the issue here http://www.idrc.ca/cp/ev-31102-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html - although this article relates specifically to Africa, water is a scarce resource in every continent, especially Asia, Latin America, and Africa.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Escaping the Trap
Once you become an accountant, apparently, you are trapped. I decided to pursue my MBA to rid myself of the accountant franchise player tag, but potential employers didn't get the message. My CV still has the far reaching stamp of Uncle D (Deloitte) plastered all over it.
In the past month, I have had three interviews, and two of them wanted me for an accounting role. I have made it abundantly clear that I want no part in accounting/finance/ or whatever, but that seems to be the only job I can get. Today, I was offered an Account Analyst internship in India. Now, India seems cool. I like the food, the people are nice, and the Company was pretty well respected, but come on... An Account Analyst job in India? I can't do that. They tried to tell me that it actually has more to do with trend analysis and strategy, but at the end of the day, it was a lame duck internship.
I feel an internship should be sexy. I should be spoiled a bit. Given copious amounts of food and maybe a couple free drinks. I want an amazing training program and maybe a new identity. A gun would be a plus. So please consider this my official declaration of candidacy for the Russian Espionage Internship. I don't mind going under cover for 5 - 10 years (Salt style!) or raising my children to be russian spies. In fact, I probably know a Russian spy (Romo), so I think thats a plus. I do have one requirement, I do not want to spy against the good 'ole USA. Can't spy against the home team, sorry. So how about this. Train me to be a spy, and I'll ship off to China. I can probably find a lot of dirt on them. They're Russia's neighbors, and I'm sure their rise to stardom is pissing Russia off quite a bit...
Well, if you don't see me around after today it means I was either accepted to spy academy or taken care of by the Russian spies at Bocconi....
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